Digital BW, The Print

I'm using the C84 and EZ inks and foolishly didn't print anything for
4 or 5 months.  I then got serious banding and ran a ton of cleaning
cycles and ate up a tone of ink.  

I seemed to solve the problem, but then a week or so later, the
banding was back. This time, after eating up some ink cartidges with
cleaning cycles, I couldn't get rid of the banding.  So I purchased a
2nd C86 to try again, but I've been reluctant to set it up without
asking here on the group how I might fix or avoid this problem in the
future.

Are there any decent cleaning kits that might restore the C84, or
should I just throw it away?  I was thinking of using the C84 for
color if I could get her going again. 

Also, might a clean kit be a viable alternative to eating up whole ink
cartridges with cleaning cycles?  Any prefered kit if so?

I'm pretty new to inket printing, so I wonder if banding/clogs like
this are commonplace.  Does more frequent printing eliminate these
problems?

Thanks!

On Tue, Feb 08, 2005 at 02:54:56PM -0000, scottmcl2000 wrote:
> 
> 
> I'm using the C84 and EZ inks and foolishly didn't print anything for
> 4 or 5 months.  I then got serious banding and ran a ton of cleaning
> cycles and ate up a tone of ink.  
> 
> I seemed to solve the problem, but then a week or so later, the
> banding was back. This time, after eating up some ink cartidges with
> cleaning cycles, I couldn't get rid of the banding.  So I purchased a
> 2nd C86 to try again, but I've been reluctant to set it up without
> asking here on the group how I might fix or avoid this problem in the
> future.

I had a similar problem after not using the printer for a few weeks.
Two cleaning cycles used ink and didn't fix the problem. I came
back several hours later, printed a purge file and found the banding
was gone.  It's possible that you need to leave some time between
cycles, or to print out a purge file.... but it's too expensive to
experiment much!

I would like to find a definitive answer as well ;)

Eoin

I would run a page through once a week.  Just run the alignment test and dot
test.

Try clovering the printer with a plastic garbage bag.  It won't evaporate
off as quickly.


Seth

-----Original Message-----
> 
> I'm using the C84 and EZ inks and foolishly didn't print anything for
> 4 or 5 months.  I then got serious banding and ran a ton of cleaning 
> cycles and ate up a tone of ink.
> 
> I seemed to solve the problem, but then a week or so later, the 
> banding was back. This time, after eating up some ink cartidges with 
> cleaning cycles, I couldn't get rid of the banding.  So I purchased a 
> 2nd C86 to try again, but I've been reluctant to set it up without 
> asking here on the group how I might fix or avoid this problem in the 
> future.

I had a similar problem after not using the printer for a few weeks.
Two cleaning cycles used ink and didn't fix the problem. I came back several
hours later, printed a purge file and found the banding was gone.  It's
possible that you need to leave some time between cycles, or to print out a
purge file.... but it's too expensive to experiment much!